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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25547062">The Christmas we never expected</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evenanandro1dcancry/pseuds/Evenanandro1dcancry'>Evenanandro1dcancry</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Power Rangers, Power Rangers Samurai</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas Party, F/M, Family Reunions, Female Friendship, Fluff, Romance, Secrets, Sweet, Unplanned Pregnancy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:28:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25547062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evenanandro1dcancry/pseuds/Evenanandro1dcancry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Antonio and Lauren had planned the perfect Christmas party for their team. As everyone arrives to get the festivities started Lauren unexpectedly starts to feel ill. She soon realizes that she's pregnant and has no idea how to tell Antonio. Can the other girls help her break the news, or will the Christmas party that everyone has been anticipating be ruined?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Antonio Garcia/Lauren Shiba</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Christmas we never expected</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a few days before Christmas in the Shiba-Garcia household. Lauren and Antonio had been busy for the past week getting the house ready for a Christmas party that would be taking place with the rest of their teammates. They were currently in the final steps of decorating the house.</p><p>"Lauren can you help me to hang this last piece on the tree?" Antonio asked Lauren.</p><p>Lauren nodded and climbed up on the ladder that Antonio had placed. "Is this good?" She asked adjusting the decoration.</p><p>"It looks perfect." Antonio said flashing one of his signature grins.</p><p>Lauren smiled back at him softly, but suddenly she felt a wave of dizziness come over her and lost her grip on the ladder. She fell backwards, and in a panic Antonio rushed over barely catching her before she hit the floor beneath them. Once the dizziness had faded, she rubbed her face trying to brush off any lingering effects. She moved to stand on her own, but Antonio held onto her hand tightly fearing that she might not still be okay.</p><p>"Sorry about that, I just got dizzy all of a sudden." Lauren told Antonio.</p><p>"I can see. Are you sure that you're okay Lauren?" He asked her his eyes filled with concern. "Maybe we should just cancel the Christmas party if you're not feeling well." He suggested.</p><p> "NO!" Lauren yelled violently shaking her head. She quickly flinched scared herself of how angrily she had just reacted and clenched her hand in a fist. "Antonio please I'm okay. The doctor we visited said that it was just a stomach flu going around. He saw plenty of patients with my same symptoms, and they all turned out fine." She said.</p><p>"But that was weeks ago and you haven't shown any signs of getting better. Maybe we should get a second opinion, go see another doctor for help." Antonio suggested still holding onto her free hand.</p><p>Lauren shook her head and pulled away from Antonio. "We can go after the party. Most doctors are going to be closed for the holidays and the others are going to be here soon. I'm going to be fine Antonio. Now shouldn't you be off catching the fish we need for the party?" She asked him.</p><p>Antonio sighed in defeat, but offered Lauren a warm smile. "Okay, but if you start feeling bad just call me and I'll come rushing home. We can eat something else, besides I don't know anyone else who eats fish for Christmas besides us." He laughed.</p><p>"That's because nobody else has a beautiful and talented fisherman like you around." Lauren told Antonio giving him a kiss on the cheek.</p><p>Antonio picked up his fishing equipment and opened the door to head out. Before completely exiting the doorway, he turned back and smiled softly at Lauren. "Te amo linda." He told her.</p><p>Lauren blushed and put a hand over her chest softly. "I love you too." She replied. As soon as Antonio had left the house, Lauren rushed over to the nearest bin and threw up profoundly. She wiped her mouth of any lingering bile and groaned in pain from having held it back for so long.</p><p>After throwing up, Lauren retreated back to her bedroom and lied in bed for hours until she was awoken by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Groaning Lauren pulled herself out of bed and opened the door eagerly greeted by Mike, Emily, Mia, and Jayden.</p><p>"Lauren it's great to see you again." Emily excitedly said wrapping her arms around Lauren in a big hug.</p><p>Lauren smiled doing the best that she could to hide her feelings of tiredness and internal pain. "It's great to see all of you too. Where's Kevin?" She asked noticing that they were missing their blue.</p><p>"Kevin said he'd be here later, but he'd still be here in time for dinner." Mia told Lauren. "Speaking of which does Antonio have the fish ready for me to start preparing them?" She asked.</p><p>Lauren paused to think then shook her head. "I don't think that he's back from fishing yet." She said. "If you want Mia, you can start preparing everything you need to cook the dinner, and when Antonio gets back you can do the fish last.</p><p>"Why are we eating fish for Christmas dinner again?" Mike asked Lauren.</p><p>Lauren glared at Mike angrily. "Because Antonio likes it. If you have a problem with it Mike you can leave." She snapped at him.</p><p>The others looked at Lauren slightly shocked, and Mike took a step back standing next to Emily. "Right, sorry Lauren." He awkwardly told her.</p><p>"No I'm sorry." Lauren told Mike shaking her head in embarrassment. "I've been having some trouble sleeping lately so I'm just really tired. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that Mike." She said.</p><p>"Are you doing okay sis?" Jayden asked Lauren.</p><p>Lauren put on a fake smile and nodded. "I'm fine Jayden I promise. I've been dealing with a stomach flu for a little bit, but it's getting better. Let's just focus on enjoying the party I know everyone has been really looking forward to it.</p><p>"Okay, if you say so." Jayden told her.</p><p>"I'm going take a small nap, but please make yourselves at home and wake me up when Antonio gets back." Lauren said. She headed back to her room trying as hard as she could to stay strong, but once she was out of the eyesight of the others she clutched her stomach in pain, grasped for air, then threw up once more.</p><p>In the living room the others looked at each other slightly unsure whether or not to take Lauren's word for it that she was okay.</p><p>"I forgot how scary Lauren can be when she gets mad." Mike chuckled.</p><p>"Mike this isn't funny." Emily scolded him. "I'm really worried about Lauren." Emily said. "What do you think we can do to help her Jayden?" She asked him.</p><p>Jayden shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Lauren has never been good about asking for help when she needs it. She keeps all of her problems to herself and tries to stay strong no matter what's going on. It's probably because she had to carry such a heavy burden for so long." Jayden told them.</p><p>"Maybe Emily and I should go talk to her." Mia suggested. "Talking with us might be easier than talking to the rest of you." She said.</p><p>"Since when are you two close to Lauren?" Mike asked raising an eyebrow. "She isn't exactly a people person, and we all know the only people she ever likes to talk to are Antonio and Jayden." He said.</p><p>Emily walked by and smacked Mike on the back of his head as she passed him. "Mike sometimes there's things that only us girls are able to fix." She told him. "Come on Mia let's see if Lauren is awake." She said.</p><p>Mia and Emily headed over to Lauren's bedroom. On the say there they noticed the lingering trace of vomit that Lauren had left behind. Though she had cleaned most of it up, the trace was still there along with some of the smell. They covered their noses and gently opened the door to find Lauren wasn't asleep, but was groaning in pain and clutching her waist.</p><p>"Lauren are you okay?" Mia asked in shock. Lauren was too weak to answer so taking action Mia ran to the nearest bathroom and washed a cloth with cold water. After drenching the cloth, she pressed it onto Lauren's side. The cold water helped to sooth the pain, and Emily helped Lauren to sit up onto the bed.</p><p>"Lauren what's wrong?" Emily asked her holding onto Lauren's arm to keep her sitting up.</p><p>"Nothing is wrong!" Lauren yelled at her. She stopped and shook her head violently.</p><p>"Lauren please let us help you as your friends." Emily pleaded. </p><p>"Who said we were friends? I'm not Jayden remember." Lauren yelled at them again. She stopped however and sighed deeply "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you or said that." She said regretfully.</p><p>"Lauren we're really worried about you." Mia told her.</p><p>"I told you that I'm okay, it's just a stomach flu. I've started getting some very bad cramps and pain, but it goes away quickly." She weakly explained to them. "This one was a pretty bad episode, but I promise that most of them aren't this bad." She said.</p><p>Mia pondered as she began to piece together all of the information that she had been given then snapped her fingers in realization. "Lauren, when was the last time that you had your period?" She asked.</p><p>Lauren blushed embarrassed at how blunt Mia was with the question but began to think back to the last time. "Now that you mention it, I think it's been a lot later than usual." She said. Lauren stopped suddenly realizing what Mia was implying. "Mia you can't be suggesting I'm pregnant?" She said.</p><p>"Well there's one way we can find out." Emily said pulling a pregnancy test out of her purse.</p><p>Lauren and Mia both looked at Emily confused. "Why do you have that?" Lauren asked her.</p><p>Emily chuckled awkwardly as she handed it over to Lauren. "I may have gone through the same thing with Mike not too long ago, but it turned out to be a false alarm for us. I bought more than I needed so I've just kept this in my purse since then." She explained.</p><p>Lauren grabbed the test shaking with nerves as took it in her hand. She retreated to the bathroom where she took the test, all of her memories with Antonio flashing before her. While she would be happy to have a baby with him she wasn't sure how he would react. This wasn't something that they had ever talked about and maybe Antonio didn't want to have one yet. Lauren cried in fear as she looked at the test seeing a positive result. She slowly walked back to the bedroom where Mia and Emily were eagerly awaiting the results.</p><p>"It's positive." She squeaked.</p><p>Mia and Emily both hugged her in joy, but Lauren broke down in tears once more. They looked at Lauren crying, and soon came to the realization that she wasn't crying tears of joy from this result.</p><p>"Do you not want a baby?" Emily slowly asked her.</p><p>Lauren wiped away her tears and looked down at the test again still shaking and paralyzed with fear. "It's not that I don't want one, but Antonio and I have never talked about this. I don't know how he's going to react to finding out. I'd love to be a mom, but what if he doesn't feel the same way." She said.</p><p>"I'm sure Antonio will want this baby too." Emily said. She gently put her hand on Lauren's stomach and smiled. "This precious joy that is growing inside of you was created because of both of you. You've been through so much together and if for some reason Antonio doesn't support you the rest of us will." She said.</p><p>Mia nodded in agreement. "We may not be fighting anymore Lauren, but we're still a team. We'll be there for you all the way if Antonio doesn't want the baby." She said. "But trust me when I say he will. We know how much he loves you." She said.</p><p>Lauren still looked unsure, but smiled slightly. She felt another wave of pain coming, and clenched her sides once more. "I'll tell him after the party. He's been looking forward to this so much and I don't want to ruin things with this news." She said. "I appreciate both of you helping me, but I want to try and get some sleep. If the pain gets too bad I'll just drink some tea that I made myself earlier. It helps keep me calm."</p><p>Emily and Mia retreated back to the living room trying their best not to let Jayden and Mike know what was actually going on with Lauren.</p><p>"You were with her for quite a long time." Mike told Emily as he leaned back on the chair he was sitting in.</p><p>"Don't worry about it Mike, Lauren just needed some girl talk to feel a bit better." Emily told him. She turned to Jayden and smiled. "Lauren is going to be okay Jayden, it's just going to take a bit longer for her to get over the stomach flu." She said holding back the urge to cheer out of joy.</p><p>A few hours later, Kevin finally arrived, as well as Antonio with the fish he had caught. Mia and Emily went to wake up Lauren who had managed to fall asleep during the wait. The three girls headed into the living room together where Antonio greeted Lauren with a tight hug.</p><p>"Sorry that it took me so long, I should've expected there to be less fish because of the cold weather. Next year I'll make sure to go get them a few days beforehand so we don't have to wait forever." He told her. Lauren smiled back at him, and Antonio gave her a kiss on the forehead.</p><p>Mia clapped her hands as she took the fish from Antonio. "I already prepared the rest of the meal, so just give me some time to get the fish ready." She said happily.</p><p>The team took their seats at the table and ate together laughing, and talking about what they had all been up to since the last time they were able to be together. As they wrapped up dinner, Lauren felt an urge to throw up hitting her again, and while she tried to hold it back until she could reach the bathroom, she only made it out of the dining room before vomiting on the floor. Everyone stood up in panic, and rushed over to her.</p><p>"Lauren are you alright?" Antonio asked as he wrapped her around his arms and held her closely to his chest.</p><p>Lauren nodded holding onto Antonio so she wouldn't collapse as she felt another wave of dizziness hit her. "I'm okay Antonio. I think the stomach flu might be getting worse because of the cold weather we've been having." She told him.</p><p>"Lauren you need to tell him." Emily blurted out.</p><p>Antonio looked over at Emily, then back at Lauren. "Tell me what?" He asked her.</p><p>Lauren pushed Antonio away from her and glared over at Emily. "Nothing at all Antonio. There's nothing to talk about, and I think some people should just shut their mouth about things that don't affect them." She yelled before storming off to her room.</p><p>Antonio looked over at Emily who moved to hide behind Mike. "Emily what's going on with Lauren." Antonio asked with a rare expression of seriousness on his face.</p><p>"I'm sorry Antonio, but I can't tell you that. This is something that has to come from Lauren when she's ready to tell you." Emily told him.</p><p>Mike shook his head in disbelief. "Man why does Lauren always have to make such a big deal out of everything. If she would just talk about this like any other normal person than we wouldn't have to guess what's going on." He said.</p><p>Antonio walked over to Mike and stared down at him angrily. "You had better watch what you say about Lauren." He said threateningly.</p><p>Jayden stepped between them to split them apart. "Settle down Antonio. I'm worried about whatever is going on with Lauren too, but we aren't going to settle this by fighting each other." He said.</p><p>"Maybe we can." Kevin said out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look at Kevin as he stood up from the stool he was sitting on. "We know the most important thing in Lauren's life is her samurai duty. If Antonio beats her in a duel, then she'll have to tell him what's going on." He suggested.</p><p>Emily and Mia both looked at each other nervously. "Maybe a duel isn't the best way to get Lauren to open up to you Antonio." Emily said.</p><p>"Besides, Lauren is the greatest Samurai who has ever lived. I don't think you stand a chance against her." Mia added.</p><p>"No, if this is the only way to get Lauren to tell me what's going on, then I'll do it." Antonio said. He picked up two training swords on the way to Lauren's room where he found her sitting on the edge of her bed. "Lauren I challenge you to a duel." He told her.</p><p>Lauren looked at Antonio unsure and thought over all of her options before eventually she stood up and took one of the swords from his hands. "I accept." She told him with very little emotion in her voice.</p><p>They headed outside into the front yard and readied themselves with their sword in hand. They each took the fighting stance that they knew best, and prepared themselves for the start. Jayden stood in the center ready to announce the duel's beginning. He threw his white flag in the air signaling them to move. Antonio carefully approached Lauren, but in his concern of not hurting her, left himself vulnerable from the rear. Lauren took quick notice of this opening and sidestepped to strike that weak point. Just before her sword made contact with him however she dropped it and collapsed to the floor in tears.</p><p>"I'm pregnant Antonio." She finally told him sobbing on the floor.</p><p>It took Antonio a brief moment to process what had happened, but once he did he dropped to the floor behind her, and caressed her softly while wrapping her around in a tight hug. "You're pregnant?" He asked trying to reassure he had heard correctly.</p><p>Unable to speak Lauren merely nodded in confirmation. Antonio wrapped himself around her even tighter and began to cry himself as well. "You aren't mad?" She asked him. "I know we never really talked about having kids yet, and we still have so much of our lives ahead of us that it might be too early for one." She said in between sobs.</p><p>Antonio shushed Lauren gently placing his finger over her lips. "Lauren I am more than happy to have this child with you." He told her. Lauren sobbed even harder, and buried her face in Antonio's chest for comfort.</p><p>"I'm guessing the two of you knew about this." Jayden told Mia and Emily.</p><p>They smiled and nodded together. "Where do you think Lauren was able to get a pregnancy test from on such short notice?" Emily asked him.</p><p>"Wow I can't believe that Antonio and Lauren had..." Mike started to say before he was cut off by Jayden.</p><p>"Please don't finish that sentence when you're talking about my sister and my best friend." Jayden told him.</p><p>"I'm just saying what we're all thinking here." Mike said.</p><p>Emily smiled over at Mike flirtatiously, and grabbed onto his arm. "If you want Mike after the Christmas party we can try and see if our luck is any better for a baby of our own this time." She told him winking.</p><p>"And with that I am going back inside." Jayden said trying not to show his embarrassment from the conversations that his friends were having. Mia laughed at his embarrassment, but followed him along. Shortly after the others left as well leaving only Antonio and Lauren who were still embracing each other out of sure joy for what was going to enter their lives.</p><p>Antonio and Lauren helped each other up from the floor and finally managed to wipe away the tears that had turned from sadness to happiness. They looked at each other, laughed slightly, and then deeply kissed. Antonio placed a hand on Lauren's stomach and felt his heart rate explode from the pure joy of knowing that she would be carrying their child.</p><p>"In all the excitement I almost forgot about the Christmas party." Antonio said laughing. "They came all the way here so we should probably finish the party we spent so long planning." He said.</p><p>Lauren smiled back at him and held his hand as they began to join the others inside. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Antonio. I just wasn't sure how to, but I guess the duel gave me a chance to let out all my feelings." She told him.</p><p>"I've learned by now that you aren't really open about your feelings Lauren. You had such a hard life that you never really got the chance to before. Together, you and I are going to make sure this little one has a better life than either of ours were." He told her.</p><p>Lauren smiled softly at Antonio and cupped his chin with her hand. "Te amo linda." She told him.</p><p>Antonio laughed sweetly at her attempt at Spanish. "It's actually supposed to be te amo lindo, but I love you too Lauren." He said.</p><p>Lauren put a hand over her chest, then with the other hand that Antonio was holding layered both hands over her stomach. The two smiled once more and headed inside joyfully knowing they were on the track to becoming parents.</p>
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